The criminal organization known as the Red Key Raiders began operations after the Battle of Endor. Noteworthy members included Adwin Charu, Lorgan Movellan, and Bivvam Gorge. Following the death of Jabba the Hutt, the Red Key Raiders sought to establish a base on Tatooine by masquerading as a mining enterprise named the Red Key Company. This led to a confrontation with Cobb Vanth, the mayor and sheriff of Freetown. Subsequently, the Red Key colluded with the more powerful Black Sun to prolong the Galactic Civil War by influencing five senators through coercion and bribery to oppose Chancellor Mon Mothma's proposal to intervene on Jakku. Han Solo and former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus led a team that successfully disrupted their scheme.
A new criminal enterprise, the Red Key Raiders, emerged soon after the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. The Mining Collective was an offshoot of this organization. In the aftermath of the Endor events, the Red Key began to establish a presence on the desert planet Tatooine, operating under the guise of a mining operation called the Red Key Company. Their intention was to create a legitimate facade while the Empire and New Republic were preoccupied with the war, and the Hutts were distracted by the power vacuum created by Jabba's demise. The ultimate goal was to usher in a new era of mining magnates.
As part of their strategy, the Red Key Raiders falsely claimed responsibility for Jabba's death for nearly a year. Immediately after the events at Endor, the Raiders' Mining Collective faction attacked and seized control of the small settlement of Mos Pelgo. However, a local resident named Cobb Vanth managed to escape, taking with him valuable crystals stolen from the attackers. He located a group of Jawa traders, using the crystals to acquire a set of Mandalorian armor that had once belonged to the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Before Vanth's departure, a Red Key operative, Adwin Charu, attempted to obtain the same Mandalorian armor from the Jawas. Vanth shot him, claimed the armor, and returned to Mos Pelgo wearing it. Equipped with a blaster pistol and the armor, he single-handily liberated Mos Pelgo from the Mining Collective.
In 5 ABY, two Red Key Raiders, including Bivvam Gorge, ambushed Jabba Desilijic Tiure's former Beastmaster Malakili near Mos Pelgo, which had been renamed Freetown. Cobb Vanth and a Twi'lek woman named Issa-Or killed the gangsters. Vanth then recruited Malakili into his community, hiring him to train a pair of rontos and care for a Huttlet named Borgo. Vanth soon provoked the ire of Red Key mob boss Lorgan Movellan, who sought to exploit Tatooine for its resources, including dilarium oil, silicax oxalate, and slaves.
Movellan's forces invaded and occupied Freetown, taking Vanth and the town's population prisoner. Movellan intended to sell the Huttlet Borgo to the Hutts and execute Vanth. However, Borgo, prompted by Malakili, emitted a loud cry, signaling a group of Tusken Raiders to attack. Vanth and Malakili had previously established an agreement with the local Tuskens, offering water and a pearl from a krayt dragon's belly in exchange for protection. Most of Movellan's men were killed during the assault. Despite Movellan's threats of retaliation from his superiors, Vanth used his knife to carve a message onto Lorgan's head.
The Red Key Raiders later formed an alliance with the more established Black Sun criminal organization to prolong the Galactic Civil War. They bribed New Republic Senators Rethalow, Dor Wieedo, and Ashmin Ek to oppose Chancellor Mon Mothma's resolution to dispatch New Republic Defense Force units to Jakku, a world in the Inner Rim where the majority of the Galactic Empire had retreated. They also blackmailed Senators Grelka Sorka and Nim Tar by abducting Sorka's pet jerba and Tar's child. Sinjir Rath Velus, Han Solo, Temmin Wexley, Jom Barell, and Conder Kyl unmasked this conspiracy.
Despite Red Key's abduction of Conder, Jom captured Rethalow and obtained a confession from him. The Red Key and Black Sun gangsters held Tar's child and Conder at a warehouse near the Quarrow Senate house on Nakadia. However, they sold Sorka's jerba to black market butchers. Conder used his transceiver tooth to transmit the warehouse's coordinates to his allies. Solo and his team landed the Millennium Falcon at the warehouse and launched an attack on the gangsters. Following a brief firefight, they rescued Conder and Tar's child. Sinjir, posing as an advisor to the Chancellor, then persuaded the five senators to reverse their votes in favor of Mothma's resolution by offering pardons and political favors. Consequently, the New Republic was able to send military forces to Jakku, thwarting Red Key and Black Sun's plan to prolong the war.
After Supreme Leader Snoke assumed leadership of the First Order, a thief named Riley sought out the Red Key Raiders. Impressed by their dismantling of the Hutt Syndicate, she desired to collaborate with them. She approached a Gabdorin named Quiggold, believing he had connections to the Red Key Raiders. Quiggold instead directed her to the Gray Gundarks for employment in exchange for a satchel containing the Smuggler's Guide. Shortly thereafter, Quiggold, serving as first mate to Sidon Ithano and his crew, embarked on a mission to Adratharpe 7 to locate the treasures described in the Guide. There, they encountered and battled members of the Red Key Raiders. The Raiders' underboss, Magnus the Bloodsoaked, acquired the Smuggler's Guide amidst the chaos. He later expressed his intention to share its contents with their boss, Movellan. Subsequently, the Droid Gotra ambushed and destroyed a Ubrikkian Freighter commanded by the Red Key Raiders. While searching the wreckage, they discovered the Guide.
The Red Key Raiders made their debut as secondary antagonists in Chuck Wendig's Star Wars: The Aftermath Trilogy, published between 2015 and 2016.